Unit Summary 3: Explorations

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The final unit is aptly named “Explorations” as there is a cacophony of voices questioning the rules of architecture and the best style. Most of this unit involves questioning, breaking and redefining the rules of architecture that were written in the Renaissance. We are still questioning those rules today. 

We started this unit in week 11 with a look at the world’s fairs. Hosting the world fairs had several goals: an exploration of style, to reinforce political relationships and a celebration of national cultural identities. Within each fair there were displays designed to entertain and enlighten with art, culture, industrial and manufacturing innovations. Because these were temporary sites that attracted large amounts of tourists, the architecture was temporary and constructed off-site in a kit of parts and transported and set up for the fair duration. A prime example is the Crystal Palace, the original building for the first world fair made of iron and glass that was assembled within six months and spanned across a large London park, covering over a dozen fully matured trees. After 1933 the tone of the world fairs became more futuristic, often looking forward with technological and architectural innovations.

With the fairs, a conversation on substance and style became a driving force for exploring architectural options. At the turn of the twentieth century, the greatest debate was handcraft or machine as the ideal design aesthetic. As Charles Ashbee said, “we do not reject the machine. We welcome it. But we desire to see it mastered.” However, as the world entered into the first world war, I think most of the hand crafted cultural standard went into the trenches and never came back out. Instead, we have the rise of the Bauhaus in Germany and the machine aesthetic. Walter Gropius and his fellow Bauhaus teachers pushed the concept of “good design for all” with an emphasis on making new rules for architecture and design principles. Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye (image at top) pushed this the furthest with his 5 rules for architecture and his new design for upper class country estate housing that contrasts sharply to the previous standard of Palladio’s design.

After the world wars, western society begins to search for a definition to modernism. The machine aesthetic quickly leaves the public behind, and this conversation turns more to a design community specific conversation, especially with the international style and the American skyscraper race or height. The key with the international style is that the design looks the same internationally as there is no local flavor to the design. This reflects the new global community and the trends towards globalization with less emphasis on the individual and more on the corporations and where the international economy is moving. 

The current discussion of design and architecture is back to where we started, with an exploration of the meanings and human interaction with design. There are many reactions to modernism in the contemporary design world, and most of those reactions fall within three major camps. The history camp includes the post-modern response to architecture with a link to history and other types of design. This also includes historic preservation. Technology lends itself to the deconstructivist style with its hi-tech innovations. And finally there is a local response that emphasizes regionalism and sustainability in design. This sustainable discussion is the most pressing issue for contemporary society today, and I personally think that it should be combined with historic preservation as we attempt to define and direct the new path in architecture.